City Calls for Second Parking Ban Monday Night

City Public Works crews will remove more snow on Monday night from several downtown streets after a second parking ban goes into effect.

Steve Parkinson, director of the Portsmouth Public Works Department, issued a press release on Monday saying the second parking ban is necessary so more sidewalks can be cleared on several city streets.

Public Works crews made some good progress on Monday after they went out with three sidewalk sweepers on Sunday night during the first parking ban, but Parkinson acknowledged they still have a long way to go. One of the things they accomplished on Sunday night was to clear sidewalks on streets that serve as major routes for the city's five public schools, he said.

On Monday at 8 p.m. to 12 midnight, the following downtown streets will have a parking ban: Chestnut Street – (Congress to Porter), Fleet Street - (State to Hanover), Church Street,  Hanover Street – (Rock to Maplewood), Bridge Street, Deer Street – (Bridge to Maplewood), Penhallow Street - (State to Bow), Custom House Court, Sheafe Street, Chapel Street - (State to Bow), Chapel Court, Porter Street, Daniel Street, Congress Street, High Street – ( Congress to Ladd), Haven Court.

The following downtown streets will have a parking ban from 12 midnight to 7:30 .m. on Tuesday: Bow Street, Market Street - (Congress to Russell), Ladd Street, High Street – (Hanover to Deer), Maplewood Avenue - (Congress to Deer), Hanover Street - (Maplewood to Market), Russell Street, Deer Street – (Maplewood to Market), Ceres Street.

On Monday morning, city Public Works crews had posted signs up and down the affected streets to tell city resident when the parking ban would be in effect on those streets.

Several downtown businesses also shoveled out walkways to their front entrances to make it easier for customers to reach them. Steve Lombard, who works at Colby's Breakfast & Lunch restaurant on Daniel Street, was doing just that on Monday afternoon. "We just got buried. I can't believe we got all of this snow," he said. "It's crazy."

As downtown Portsmouth made its way back to normalcy, some drivers and pedestrians still found it to be tough going in many areas of the downtown where the high snow banks on either side of the streets still covered many sidewalks and didn't give traffic much room to operate. The rain also made the snow heavier and slushy, which will make it that much harder for city Public Works crews and residents to completely dig out from the Blizzard of 2013.